weight gain?

Thank you Coach for explaining the process - I have long known the REALITY of this but didn't really understand why - finally I simply started explaining it as our weight does NOT follow logical or reasonable rules or patterns but is perverse, tricky, and often annoying BUT that if you keep on keeping on eventually you WILL see the results you are working towards. Thanks again for the info.

I would have liked to look at your nutrition and fitness trackers before giving advice, but they are set to "private." Without basic information it is really difficult to give you advice. So, I'll ask some questions.

What kind of exercise are you doing? How long are you exercising each day? How intense are your exercise routines?

What are you eating? How many calories? Are you accurately tracking your food at every meal? Are you measuring your portions at every meal?

Using as many tools as possible will help you map your success. Nutrition trackers help you see how much protein, fats, carbs, etc... you are taking in and it also tracks these things by meal so you can see how much you are really eating.

The fitness tracker helps you create a "calorie deficit" by showing you how many calories you are expending every day compared to how much you are taking in. Also, by creating other goals such as measuring your various body parts, blood pressure, resting heart rate, and other markers, you can see how you are doing with your overall fitness and adjust your exercise routine accordingly.

There's an old saying "you can't get where you're going if you don't know where you've been."

Many people either gain a little weight or don't see any change on the scale for as long as 4-6 weeks after making a significant change in their level of exercise. When you start doing more exercise, your body begins storing more fuel in your muscle cells, where it can be used easily and quickly to fuel your workouts. The process of converting glucose (carbohydrates) into fuel that your muscles actually store and use (glycogen) requires three molecules of water for every molecule of glucose. As your muscles are building up glycogen stores, your body has to retain extra water for this purpose. That's what causes most of the initial weight gain or lack of weight loss. This is a good thing—not something to worry about.

However, despite what the scale says, you are actually losing fat during this time. The extra water retention will stop once your body has adjusted to its new activity level. At that point, the scale should start moving down. You'll end up with less fat, and muscles that can handle a larger amount of work.

Keep up the great work and don't get too focused on the number on the scale but focus on all the other ways you are seeing change and trust that the scale will follow.

You may have gained weight, but have you lost inches? Can you do more push ups? Can you walk or run with greater ease? What about your resting heart rate? Your blood pressure? Scales are just one of the tools that we use to track progress. Measurements and fitness tests are just as important. It can be very disheartening to see our weight go up, but sometimes it does before it goes down.

I'd recommend tracking some other indicators of health as well as your weight. If you see absolutely no improvement in any area, perhaps a change of approach would be necessary. But having been where you are, I know that the chances are that you are having improvement in other areas that just aren't showing up in your weight *yet*. If you keep going though, not only will you continue improving in these areas, but it will eventually begin to show in your weight.

I have been counting calories and working out religiously for almost three weeks now and I have GAINED weight. I didnt expect to get results overnight but i was hoping that even if I didnt loose weight right away I would atleast maintain?!?! I am feeling a bit discouraged I dont know what I am doing wrong. Any advice?

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